Windmills in Kent #10 – Ripple Smock Mill Traditional Geocache
Long Man: Unfortunately the owner needs to enable the cache and as the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache, I'm archiving it.
Andy
Long Man
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Windmills in Kent #10 – Ripple Smock Mill
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(regular)
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There is a convenient field entrance right by the cache location for parking. This is a quiet narrow country lane but the locals tend to drive along here very fast so please take care when walking to the cache. You are looking for a cylindrical litre sized container.
Ripple Windmill is a Grade II listed Smock mill located between Walmer and Ringwould. It was original built in the late 18th century at Drellingore, in the Alkham Valley, but then moved to its current site in 1807.
When the mill was moved, it was sectioned by cutting the cant posts in half lengthways, and bolting them back together at the new site. One such cant post can still be seen in the mill.
Ripple Mill is a three storey smock mill on a single storey brick base. There is no stage. It has four single patent sails and a Kentish style cap. The mill is winded by a fantail. The mill had three pairs of millstones, driven underdrift.
The mill was working during the Second World War but fell into disuse soon after. In 1955, the mill was acquired by Rediffusion Ltd and stripped of machinery. The smock was festooned with aerials and used as a television relay station. Rediffusion sold the mill in 1976 and the cap was replaced in 1994 with the windshaft from Shiremark Mill, Capel, Surrey. The windmill is currently under restoration.
> A girl was killed by being struck by one of the sails, which came close to the ground in 1834.
> In 1895, Trinity House contributed towards repairs to the mill, which was marked as a navigational landmark.
> The mill lost two sails in 1927 and worked after that on the other two sails, assisted by an oil engine.
This area is great walking country and there are footpaths close by that take you right past the mill if you want to get a closer look. However it is a private residence and so there is not access to the mill itself.
The cache that you are looking for is a liter sized cylindrical screw-top tub. Take care when getting the cache; a nosey neighbour took to cache before it was first found but fortunately handed it back to Fat Pigeon when went along to find it. Hence FTF (and my thanks for letting me know) go to Fat Pigeon.
If anybody would like to expand this series, please feel free to do so. All I would ask is that you let The Eastry Cache Bandits know so that they can inform you of the next number in the series to avoid duplication, and include a variation of this sentence in your cache description.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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